


On the Right Shore

by thenewadventuresofsinbad_archivist



Series: The NEW Adventures of Sinbad Fan-Fiction Season 2 [3]
Category: The Adventures of Sinbad (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-07-03
Updated: 2000-07-03
Packaged: 2019-03-15 22:39:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13622976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenewadventuresofsinbad_archivist/pseuds/thenewadventuresofsinbad_archivist
Summary: By LoisDoubar is kidnapped by the Lord of the Underworld. Will Sinbad and his crew make it in time to save his soul?





	On the Right Shore

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Merlin and Calvin, the archivists: this story was originally archived at [The New Adventures of Sinbad Fan Fiction Season 2](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_New_Adventures_of_Sinbad_Fan_Fiction_Season_2) and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The New Adventures of Sinbad Fan Fiction Season 2’s collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thenewadventuresofsinbad/profile).

* * *

**EPISODE 03 – ON THE RIGHT SHORE**  
  
WRITTEN BY – LOIS  
EDITED BY – GOLDEN HIND, MERLIN, CALVIN

* * *

**TEASER**

The Nomad crew is on an a seemingly easy journey for a change,

_"Something refreshing, it's a little change" thought the young captain._

when it suddenly takes a turn for the worst.

_"How can that be?" murmured Sinbad._

Doubar is taken to the underworld,

_"Your brother is not lost, he is alive." Maeve consoled._

Will Sinbad and the crew be able to save Doubar's soul from eternal damnation, even if it is what Doubar claims to want...

_"I don't know what you want from me, man, but I am dead, I am happy here," Doubar said coldly._

Or will they die trying?

_"Death is the only right way to be." Charon said._

Find out in "On the Right Shore" coming up next...

* * *

Sinbad was standing on deck, smiling. The sea was calm, the sky was blue, and he was feeling happy. They had an agreement with Omar of Basra to bring him some very special fruits from a unknown land, which were reputable for being extremely delicate and very good. This journey was going to be calm, a simple mission that didn't require any battles or fighting.

"Something refreshing, it's a little change" thought the young captain.

He looked around to see what his crew members were doing. Maeve was on the back of the ship, trying to concentrate on her new spell book, the book of Darkness and Light. She was so beautiful in the sunlight. Her fiery, red hair was dancing in the breeze, repetitiously coming in her eyes. It was beginning to irritate her, because she couldn't read a minute without having to fix her hair. She was putting it back behind her ears, again and again, and finally she closed her book and put her hair up.

Sinbad smiled at her little difficulties, and kept his eyes on her, thinking about how gorgeous she was that day and wondered if she had appreciated the roses he had sent to her a few days ago. Immediately, he recognized his own thoughts, blushed, and then turned back his look at the sea so he would not be teased by the others. But it was too late. Doubar, who had watched his brother's reaction, came to him, with a big smile curving his lips.

"So, Little Brother, isn't Maeve really beautiful today?" the big man said, his voice filled with amusement.

Sinbad turned to face his brother, trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Really? I...I didn't notice..." the young captain replied.

Doubar slowly started to laugh when he saw his brother's face turning to red. He decided to not let him get away with this that easily.

"Aye, of course, you never notice that kinds of things... And I guess you didn't feel anything when she gave her necklace to Eyolf, or when you kissed her after defeating the Vorgon..."

Sinbad felt his heart throbbing and wished he had never gotten out of his bed that morning. Doubar totally burst into laughter, seeing his brother turn more and more red, and then let himself slide to the ground, while holding his stomach.

"Doubar! Do you really think you're funny? Stop laughing like that! Stop it!" Sinbad replied, not knowing what he was saying.

But his brother didn't stop, and Firouz, who had watched the two brothers' "discussion", began to laugh too. Soon, it was as if the whole Nomad crew was kidding their captain, except Maeve, who came to Sinbad and asked him what was happening. He looked at her desperately and didn't say a word.

Doubar heard the sorceress' question and answered, "Nothing Maeve, it's nothing! He just didn't notice!"

And with these words he laughed louder, if it was possible. Maeve turned to face Sinbad, with an understanding look, and quickly felt very uncomfortable. Sinbad looked her in the eye and finally began to laugh too.

Maeve gave him a little slap on the shoulders and exclaimed, " How dare you? You're kidding yourself, Sinbad!"

But soon she laughed too and all the crew members were having a nice moment. But it didn't last. Suddenly, the sky turned black and the sun disappeared behind some gray clouds. Everyone came back to their post quickly and Sinbad held the tiller tighter.

"All hands on deck! A big storm's coming" the captain yelled.

The wind blew more and more. Maeve fell on the ground with a little cry of pain. She looked at Dermott and called him mentally.

"Go below deck, Dermott, and hurry!"

The hawk obeyed and flew to his mistress' quarters. The sorceress grasped a rope and tried to get up. Rongar leaned against Mustapha, who was leaning himself on Firouz, who was clinging on to the rail. Doubar was giving orders to everyone, but no one could hear what he was saying, because the wind drowned his voice. And then it came.

"That's a tornado! Hang on to something!" Sinbad cried.

The tornado was approaching the Nomad so rapidly that everyone was gasping. It was so upsetting. And then it took him. The tornado took Doubar away.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! DOUBAR!!!!!!!" Sinbad cried.

And the tornado was gone. And the storm was gone.

"How can that be?" murmured Sinbad.

But he didn't reflect more. He put one foot on the rail, preparing to jump to rescue his brother.

"No!" The voice came behind him, and a hand grabbed his arm. Maeve.

"I'm not going to let you act so foolishly! You can't help him this way!" the lovely sorceress shouted.

"Let me go, Maeve! I am the captain, and you're not going to tell me what I have to do!" the young man replied, "I'm going to save my brother!"

With that he pushed Maeve's hand away and prepared again to jump into the sea. But then he felt a strong strength surrounding him and he was no longer on the deck, he was standing in Maeve's cabin.

"What did you do?" he shouted after her, "Why don't you let me rescue him!"

"Because you can't save him this way, Sinbad" Maeve gently said.

The calm seemed to be back in the Nomad, and only Firouz and Mustapha's calls to find Doubar could be heard. Sinbad rushed to Maeve's door and tried to open it, but it remained closed. He got excited and hit again and again the door with his hands, and finally sat down on the floor.

"Doubar..." he murmured.

Maeve came closer to him and took his hands in hers.

"Shhh, it's all right. Listen to me, Sinbad," she said, "Your brother is not lost, he is alive."

Sinbad turned to face her with a confused look in his eyes.

"This tornado wasn't a normal one," she said, "It was a magical one. There's a strong magic in the air, black magic. And Doubar is probably captured by an evil person. But I swear to you, he is alive, I can sense it."

Sinbad looked at her, trying to understand.

"So... He's not dead? We still can rescue him?"

"Aye, Captain'. But first we have to find out where he is and who captured him," Maeve replied.

~~~

"STOP!!!!" Maeve shouted to shut up the hubbub of voices which was filling the room where Sinbad, Firouz, Mustapha, Rongar and herself were standing for one hour, arguing about how they could rescue Doubar.

The crewmen looked at her oddly, confused about why she just cried.

"There's no sense of talking about nothing. We don't even know where he is, so how could you, Firouz, talk about the direction we have to take? And you, Sinbad, stop blaming yourself, it won't change anything."

The sorceress had talked so easily that no one knew what to answer to her steady tone of voice. Only Mustapha found something to say and didn't hesitate, "You're right on only point dear," he said sarcastically, "Firouz never talks about anything that could have any importance, but we're used to it. It's always this way, isn't it?"

Maeve and the others just gave him a hard look, but Firouz shouted at Mustapha, "Shut up, fool! We're searching a way to get Doubar out of someone's evil hands, and you, you're only thinking about bothering me, like you always do! But who really cares about Doubar? Who is trying to find something that could be explained by science? If you don't think you need my help, then I'll go!"

With those words he left, banging the door after him. Rongar looked at Mustapha desperately, trying to understand why his two best friends in the world were always shouting at each other.

Mustapha avoided his friend's look and left too, saying before closing the door behind him: "What an odd crew! A mad scientist, a woman who gives orders, and a captain who doesn't say anything! Sometimes I really wonder what I'm doing here!"

Rongar turned his eyes back to Sinbad, who looked pitiful. He nodded, looked at Maeve with a look which meant "I'm going to calm them down," and then he was gone, leaving the captain and the sorceress alone. Maeve walked slowly to Sinbad, who was now sitting, his head hidden in his hands.

"Sinbad..."

She didn't know what to say. Her heart was aching. What if she was wrong? What if Doubar was lost to the person who captured him? The person or the thing, the thought, and this thought scared her. Sinbad gently murmured, remaining his eyes closed: "It's my fault... all my fault..."

Maeve lifted his head up and forced him to look her in the eye.

"And why would it be your fault, and not mine? Or perhaps it's Firouz's, Mustapha's, and Rongar's. Why? Why does it have to be you?" she said, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Why? Because I'm the captain! Because I'm his brother! Because he's one of the people I love the most on this earth and I let him go!" the Nomad's captain cried, trying to bring back the tears in his eyes, not wanting Maeve to see him like this.

Maeve sat down and opened her arms to him, knowing words could never soothe the pain inside his heart, but feeling that perhaps her embrace could calm his tears down a bit. They stayed this way a few minutes, calming each other in each other's arms. Then suddenly, Maeve broke apart: "I know what to do! Sinbad, I know what I can do to find out where Doubar is!" she exclaimed, overexcited.

"What? What can you do? Tell me!" Sinbad said, regaining his faith.

Maeve breathed slowly before explaining: "You know I've got some...aptitudes to contact Dermott by telepathy. So I thought perhaps I could try to contact Doubar this way! He could tell us where he is and we could rescue him!"

"Could you?" the captain asked uncertainly.

"I could not, captain, I can!"

~~~

"Try again, Maeve, please!" the Nomad's captain demanded.

Maeve was sitting on a table, her hands resting on her temples, a painful expression on her face. Her eyes were closed, and without opening them, she murmured: "I'm trying, Sinbad, but I don't sense his mind anywhere. It's like...there's...a wall, between him and us."

"A wall? What kind of wall could it be?" asked Firouz, obviously misunderstanding what his red-haired friend was saying.

Maeve tried again, using more energy this time, searching everywhere in her mind for some response from Doubar. "Please, Doubar, answer me! Tell me where you are! Please!"

Sinbad was staring at her anxiously, hoping with all his heart and soul she would find his big brother. She was their only chance, his only chance, Doubar's only chance. He knew he trusted her, he was sure she was able to succeed, but what if Doubar was too far, or if there was a spell surrounding him? She told them there was a wall between them and Doubar, was she right?

Rongar was standing near his captain looking at him and trying to read his facial expression. He knew for sure that his friend would take it hard if his brother never returned. Inside his heart, the Moor was feeling anger and rage for someone he didn't even know, for Doubar's abductor.

Mustapha was looking down at the floor. He remembered the first time he met the big man, in Prince Casib's dungeon. He was asking some men what they thought about his mother, and Doubar had come to him, asking why he demanded this to everyone. Mustapha remembered that he didn't know what to say, because even he didn't know why he always asked that.

After that, he became friends with the joyful man, and enjoyed passing moments with him, it embellished the days they spent, wondering what Casib would do with them both. And when Sinbad arrived and Doubar introduced the two, he knew his life was changing, but not for long. He died, and now that he was back, he was owing Sinbad for letting him be a part of the crew, but he hadn't forget who made this dream true in first, his friend Doubar.

Firouz couldn't get his eyes off of Maeve. He had always been fascinated by the way she could make spiritual connections with Dermott, but he knew there was something special between the Hawk and the sorceress. But this time she was trying to make one with Doubar, the last man who could do any magic, in his mind.

He worried about him so much! He knew the crew had faced many difficult situations in the past, and that they almost always defeated the evil when they met it, but this time it was different. He could feel that this fight to find Doubar wouldn't be easy, because Maeve seemed to have difficulties to do what she wanted to.

The scientist was scared. He rarely had that kind of feeling. It was a feeling of strong fear, fear of losing one of his best friends.

Suddenly, a big red light's flash stopped everyone's thoughts, making them blink and close their eyes. When the flash disappeared, they opened their eyes and watched. What they saw horrified them. Maeve was laying on the ground, unconscious. Mustapha was the first to react, "Maeve!" he screamed, running to her side.

Immediately, Rongar and Firouz joined him. Sinbad just stared at her, an horrified look on his face. He couldn't move, he couldn't talk, only his mind could think. And his mind and his heart both shouted, "NO!" Then he reacted and ran. "Maeve..." he whispered. He knelt at her side, reaching a hand to touch her face. She looked so pale.

"Firouz... What happened? What happened to her?" he cried in despair.

Firouz pushed the others aside, and took a look at her. He placed his hand on her forehead and took her pulse.

"So?" asked Sinbad with worry in his voice.

"So... I think she'll be fine. I can't explain it, it's like... she has been... struck, by something, or someone!" replied Firouz, his voice filled with both relief and anxiety.

Sinbad sighed loudly and whispered, "Thank Allah."

~~~

Sinbad didn't leave the sorceress' side at all. When he had to do his duties as captain, he sent Firouz. But they couldn't stay this way, they didn't even know what to do. Maeve was their only hope left to find Doubar, and she had now been unconscious for ten hours. Sinbad was desperate. It was like his world was falling down on him.

Of course, he loved his crew like a family, but Doubar was the one true family he had left, and he was going to lose him. But he knew he had to keep thinking of Maeve if he didn't want to die inside, because he had faith in her, and he knew she was right. Doubar was not dead, and they had to find him, wherever he was.

So he kept looking at the beautiful sorceress' pale face, hoping she would wake up soon. Dermott was perching on her bed, and in a way, Sinbad could sense the hawk's anxiety, because of his eyes. They looked so sad. As he was beginning to fall asleep, his entire body tired by the pain, and simply the fatigue, he heard a moan from Maeve. He took her hand, and called her softly by her name, waiting for her to open her eyes. Then she did.

"Sinbad?" she gently asked, weakness filling her eyes.

"Aye it's me," he replied, trying to keep his voice calm because of the tears that filled it, "How do you feel?"

"It doesn't matter," she answered, apparently regaining her strength and determination. She sat up in her bed and looked a disappointed Sinbad in the eye.

"Sinbad, if I collapsed, it's because of someone. It wasn't a wall that pushed me away. If I couldn't make a connection with Doubar, it's because he is not in this world, or in this reality." She took a deep breath before continuing: "When I was unconscious, I dreamt of Dim-Dim," she said softly, trying to remember exactly what had taken place in her mind, "It was dark, it was as if everything that surrounded me was black, as if the death itself lived in my head. Then there was a light, and I heard Dim-Dim's voice. He told me I wasn't dead. He told me to look inside our hearts to find the key. After, he said Doubar was alive, but not for long, and that we had to hurry to save him. And..."

Sinbad looked amazed. He slowly nodded and asked, "And?"

Maeve paused. She closed her eyes a bit and tried to remember her master's words exactly. "It's..confusing, and I can't remember that well, but there's something I am sure about: Dim-Dim told me there was a deal with Charon," the young woman said, before pulling away her blankets and rising to her feet, with Sinbad's help.

"Charon?" asked Sinbad, confused. He wondered if Maeve was delirious. He wasn't relieved at all. Nothing she had said yet led to something clear, something which could help them find out where Doubar was, or what had happened to him.

Maeve recognized the light shimmering her captain's eyes. A light which meant, "Are you sure you're all right?"

"No Sinbad, I'm not delirious, I don't have any fever!" she said in a irritated tone, "Just call the others, I don't want to repeat what I'm going to say."

Sinbad released her arm and walked to the door. He turned to face her and opened his mouth as if to speak but Maeve interrupted him, "Go!" she said, determined.

~~~

Everyone was standing in the galley, looking at Maeve. She spoke slowly, "I don't know much about Charon, but in Greek mythology he is the dead men's passenger on the "Styx" from the shore of life to the death's shore. As long as you are in the middle of the river, you still can go back to the life's shore if you aren't really dead. But as soon as you touch the other shore, you can be sure you'll never go back to life. I...don't know anymore..."

Mustapha and Firouz oddly looked at each other, wondering what the Greek mythology had to do with Doubar. Rongar looked down to the floor, not knowing what to say. Sinbad was sitting on a chair, and didn't seem to be very enthusiastic. Maeve looked slowly at each member of the crew. Then she said: "Believe me or not, but I swear Charon is not only a legend. He does exist and I'm sure that he has captured Doubar! Dim-Dim told me that!" She began to get angry when she saw that no one seemed to care or believe what she was saying.

With a loud sigh, she prepared to leave the galley when Firouz spoke, "Wait a minute... now I remember! Rongar, bring me the map which is laying on the table in my cabin, please!"

The Moor left and the scientist resumed, "There's an island which is nicknamed "the Styx" because there is a big black river in the middle of it, it's like the legend. Everyone is scared of this island, and the legend says that no one has returned from it for twenty years. Before, it was a nice place named Faluria but one day, everything changed and the place turned to an horrible one, with evil spirits hovering in the sky, black sand on the beach...Perhaps it could be..."

Rongar came back and gave Firouz the map. He unrolled it and searched, "the Styx".

"There!" he shouted, overexcited.

Everyone came to see what the scientist had discovered. About two days away from where they were, stood an island named the "Styx".

~~~

For the past day, Sinbad had seemed to regain his strength. He was still very worried, but he ate well again, because he knew he would need to be strong in the next days, to rescue Doubar. Then, he was standing at the rail, looking towards the island that could be seen by everyone. He suddenly got a chill. He didn't need any magic to say it was an evil place. A tap on the shoulder turned him to Firouz.

The scientist looked worried too, but in a way he was happy, because they had found where Doubar probably was, and this had been discovered by him. The captain gave him a smile, a little but confident one. Firouz took a step and leaned on to the rail near his captain.

"You're really worried, Sinbad, aren't you?" asked gently Firouz.

Sinbad just nodded, he knew it was a rhetorical question, just a way to introduce a conversation. The captain didn't really feel like sharing his thoughts, but when he saw the nice expression on the scientist's face, he knew he couldn't shut himself and hide from his closest friends.

"I hope you and Maeve are right, because if not I don't know if I could go on... Doubar has always be there for me, you know. He's all the family I have left on this earth," Sinbad softly said.

Firouz was glad to see that his captain wanted to speak to him, at least a little. He knew they never shared a very deep bond when it came to talking about their feelings and fears, but he understood Sinbad wasn't someone very extrovert in this topic anyway. He didn't know what to say, because he didn't understand the situation himself, after all he wasn't the sorcerer, but the scientist in this crew, and what could he explain when he felt left out of the subject? So he just put a comforting hand on his captain's shoulder, and both of them just let their thoughts run, watching the sunrise on the island.

~~~

When the longboat touched the sand of the small beach, Maeve trembled. She wasn't really afraid of confronting Charon, she was scared because of the sand's color. It was black, like the sky, like the trees trunks and like almost everything that set on the isle. She sent Dermott looking for anything that could lead to Doubar after telling him to be very careful. Then she took a step and looked with determination at Firouz, Mustapha, Rongar, and at last at Sinbad.

She fell on him and nodded. He understood immediately that she was trying to comfort him with this lovely look of hers, and he felt a renewed of hope, of energy, of optimism. At this moment, feeling her warmth without even touching her, he wondered what he would do without his beloved crew. There was always one of them here to cheer him when he felt down.

Maeve took a deep breath before saying, "Come on, let's go find Doubar!"

~~~

They had already walked for two hours, and part of them began to be hungry and feel tired. Mustapha was the first.

"Stop! Please." he said before sitting on the ground with a loud sigh.

Everyone turned to see Mustapha's face tired and apparently not very happy. He looked at them and just said, "Why are you looking at me like that? Aren't you as hungry as I am? We been walking for two hours, and I think we deserve a little time to rest!"

Everyone looked at him in disbelief. They were all very worried about Doubar, and all that Mustapha could think about was having a meal? But they had to admit that the morning had been long and tiring, and they were all hungry. Sinbad turned to each member of his valuable crew and said, "OK, you're right, we need to rest," he agreed.

His face seemed as torn with worry and concern as two hours ago, but he tried to keep his self-control, even if he wanted to run ahead to save his brother. Maeve noticed the look of both fear and annoyance on her captain's face. She knew he was having doubts about everything, and especially about his capacities to rescue Doubar. So she just put a comforting hand on his shoulder, quickly, before sitting on the ground with the others.

They looked around themselves. On the ground, there was no more black sand, but a half red, half brown-black soil. The trees were the same as the ones on the beach, some sort of palm tree with black leaves. Firouz got a chill when he looked up at them. They were so high, so harrowing, so black. The scientist took a piece of bread and brought it to his lips, trying to take his eyes off this sight. But the bread didn't have the time to touch his mouth.

The ground began to shake and the food jumped out of Firouz' hands. Sinbad, Rongar, Mustapha and Maeve rose on their feet immediately and tried to keep their balance, wondering what was happening. Then they looked up in the sky and saw it. It was something they had never seen before. The young captain swallowed his saliva and drew his saber to face the thing. That was a sort of giant, but this one had black, long wings, and looked almost like a harpie.

Its eyes were flashing with a red light of anger, its nose... Uh.. in fact it hadn't any nose, its mouth was like a big fissure in a rock, a fissure from which some lava was going out. But no, it wasn't lava, it was the giant's tongue.

"Uhh, I really wouldn't like to kiss her, even beneath a lovely sunset..." said Mustapha.

"And what does make you think that's a girl?" Firouz answered sarcastically.

The thing moved closer to them, making the ground shake more.

"It dosn't matter if it'd prefer one of you more than the other, I don't think we can kill this with our sabers!" yelled Sinbad to be heard, "Rongar, can you throw him, or her, he said after looking at Mustapha, one of your daggers? Perhaps if you could touch its eyes, it would be blinded and we could escape!"

Rongar drew one of his daggers and prepared himself to throw it to the giant. Then he aimed and did it. The dagger flew in the air at a dizzying speed and hit it between its eyes. The giant let out a cry of pain, but didn't fall. It looked amazed, and then, very angry... It looked back at the moor and a flash of red light came from its eyes and hit Rongar in the chest.

"Rongar!" all screamed. They ran to his side. Firouz took his pulse and looked at the others.

"It's okay, he's not hurt a lot. Let's take him away from here and he'll be fine."

"Aye, good idea... but how do we go away?" asked Sinbad to himself. Then he turned to Maeve, "Perhaps you could..." She looked back at him and answered: "Could what? Put my finger in the air and yell STOP, as I did the last time?"

Everyone turned to look at the giant to see if it had worked.

"Uhh... could you think of something else?" Firouz asked.

Indeed, the giant hadn't stopped at all. He had become bigger. Now its eyes were as big as Sinbad's cabin, and its stomach was as large as the whole Nomad. Her crew looked at each other, and whispered in unison, "Ummm...."

The giant wasn't as disappointed as them. He walked towards Firouz, who had stayed still.

"Hey beautiful one, what do you think of a little run? Catch me if you can!" yelled Sinbad at the monster before starting running in the opposite direction. The giant looked at him, moaned something incomprehensible and began to chase him with those inelegant feet of his.

"Sinbad! What are you trying to do?" shouted Firouz.

"Just wait here for me! I'll be there in a few minutes!" the captain answered.

Everyone looked stunned. How many chances could he have against a monster so big?

"He has lost his mind!" Maeve said in disbelief.

"No! I'm sure he's got an idea, or a plan... a least I hope..." answered Firouz, "Just trust him Maeve, we all know he's everything but stupid. Could you please help me with Rongar?" he asked.

"Of course, Firouz, of course..." the sorceress gently said, still looking at the hill behind which the young captain had disappeared.

With Mustapha's help, they turned the moor to his back. He hadn't any wound that could be healed, he was just unconscious.

"Rongar, my friend, wake up..."said Mustapha, patting his cheek. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at his friends, a confused look on his face. He sat on the ground with Firouz' help and signed, "What happened?"

"Don't you remember, Rongar?" Maeve asked, "You threw your dagger to this giant, but it didn't work, and it flashed you."

The moor shook his head to regain consciousness, remembering what had just happened, and then asked, "Where's Sinbad?"

They looked at each other, and Mustapha answered, "He's going to get rid of that monster."

~~~

Sinbad was running. The giant was close, so close that he could hear the monster's breath. The captain wondered what he was doing. He had got this idea and had left without even thinking about what he was going to do to overpower the monster. Then, he saw the river. He had finally reached it. The "Styx" It was a black and large river, and he didn't want to fall into it. The water seemed poisoned.

"Perhaps this lovely monster would like to take a bath..." he thought. So he kept running towards the river. He knew the giant was approaching. When he was about to reach the river, he jumped and clung on to a branch tree. The monster did not understand and fell into the water.

Before he sank, Sinbad clearly heard its desperate scream, "So what, you don't know how to swim, beautiful one? Too bad..." he said sarcastically. The water bubbled. Sinbad looked at it and got a chill. Certainly, he really didn't like this place.

~~~

"Sinbad!" Maeve and Mustapha said in unison as they saw their captain coming back towards them. Firouz looked up from Rongar to Sinbad, and smiled, "So I think it means you succeeded!" the scientist said joyfully.

Sinbad sat on the ground with a loud sigh, "I think monsters should learn to swim, it would be more fun..." he said with a little smile.

"So he drowned?" asked Maeve, "But we're very far from the sea, aren't we?"

"Aye, my dear, but I think we found the 'Styx'."

"Do you smell that?" Mustapha asked as they reached the river.

"Yes... Hmm... I love this odor!" answered Maeve.

"What are you talking about? I can't smell anything!" Firouz replied.

"Oh come on, Firouz! Are you saying you don't smell this perfect odor?" asked Sinbad.

Firouz looked at his four friends. On their faces was an expression of happiness, as if they were in trance. Maeve began to dance all around, Sinbad sang a unknown song, Mustapha danced with Maeve, and Rongar rolled on the ground.

"But what are you doing? Hey! I'm talking to you!" the scientist yelled, shaking Sinbad, "Your brother is going to die if we don't rescue him, and you, you're singing? SINBAD!"

Suddenly, the captain got off his trance, "What? What are you talking about? Doubar?"

He fell on the ground, and took his head in his hands, "Ooohh! It hurts! What was that?"

"Calm down, Sinbad," said Firouz gently, "I'm not sure, but I think there's a special gas in the air that makes us feel strange, overexcited. How do you feel now?"

"Uh... A little better..." Sinbad answered, "But what about the others?" he asked as he looked at Maeve and Mustapha dancing together, "And why aren't you in trance too, Firouz?"

Firouz took a step and thought. After an instant, he answered, "I think that's because my nose is stuffed up. You know, when we were on the Isle of Devron and we came to that hill, I caught a cold, because the weather was odd and..."

"Firouz!" called Sinbad to make him stop, "Please, that's very interesting, but not now. We have to get the others out of this, and we must hurry if we want to see Doubar again!"

Firouz nodded. They ran towards Rongar and forced him to rise on his feet. But he struggled with them. His eyes remained closed, and he was shaking his head from right to left. So Sinbad pinned him to the ground, his hands holding the moor's shoulders firmly.

"Rongar! Listen to me, you have to wake up! Think...think about Doubar! We have to rescue him! Hey! Rongar!" Sinbad yelled at him. But he was still trying to free himself. So, after thinking about it a few seconds, Sinbad lifted his hand up and hit his friend in the stomach, "Sorry my friend." he said as Rongar let out a cry of pain.

The moor suddenly opened his eyes and looked from Firouz to Sinbad, obviously unaware of what had happened, "Uh... Rongar, my friend, I'm sorry about hitting you like that, but I don't have the time to explain. We have to get both Mustapha and Maeve out of their trip." Saying so, he turned to look at his friends. When he saw them, he let out a cry of fear, "No! Don't do this!"

Maeve and Mustapha, holding hands, were about to jump into the black river, laughing and singing. Sinbad ran to them and pushed them on the ground just before they jumped. He knew that if they had done this, the same thing that happened to the monster would have happened to them. He didn't dare even think of that.

"Sinbad! You're not funny! You're so killjoy!" yelled Maeve between two laughs.

"Aye, perhaps, but you, you are a fool! Both of you are!" he said looking at both Mustapha and Maeve, " If I had let you jump, you would be dead, do you understand that?"

Maeve and Mustapha looked at each other, fighting their will to laugh for an instant, but almost immediately, they burst into laughter. They forced Sinbad to let them go, got up and prepared to jump again.

"No, no, no, you're not going to do that again!" yelled Sinbad, "You have to obey my orders, I'm the captain! Is that clear?" he demanded, taking them both by one hand.

But they were uncontrollable. Rongar came to them and handed Sinbad a rope, "Good idea, Rongar!" the captain said. He caught the sorceress and Mustapha and tied their hands.

 

"Phew!" he said as he let go of them, letting Rongar keep watch over them. He walked to Firouz and asked, "They don't seem to want to wake up. Do you have an idea?"

"I don't know...Perhaps it would work if we did the same thing we did to Rongar?" answered the scientist.

"Aye, but I'd prefer to find something else." he said, looking at Maeve in the corner of the eye,

"Let's see if there's something interesting about that in Maeve's new book."

Firouz nodded, and they took the book out of a bag. Sinbad glanced through the pages. Firouz looked at Rongar, to see if he was having difficulties with the two fools, "Poor Rongar!" he thought. Indeed, the moor was trying to keep them calm, but that was not an easy thing to do. They were laughing like children, teasing each other with stupid statements.

Firouz heard one from Maeve, "Anyway, you're just a big pig! Always rolling on the poo! Burkkk!!!"

At this, Rongar and Firouz both shook their heads, but couldn't help a smile. They were really not used to see their sorceress acting like a child. They had to admit it was pretty funny, even if the situation wasn't funny at all.

Suddenly, they heard Sinbad shouting, "That's it! I found out what to do!"

Firouz came quickly to see what his friend had discovered.

"Here it is," said the captain, "It says : When someone seems to had lost their mind to a gas, if he's acting like a child or like a fool, there's only one way to get him back. He has to feel a strong emotion. Pain, pleasure...And he'll regain to consciousness. Uh... OK, so that's why Rongar woke up when I struck him." concluded Sinbad.

"..and why you did when I told you your brother was going to die if we didn't do anything. You felt fear for losing him." said Firouz. Sinbad cleared his throat, " Okay, so that's easy, we just have to strike Mustapha a little, and he'll wake up."

"Nothing would make me more happy..." whispered Firouz with a little smile, "But what about Maeve?"

"Uh... I don't know, but I'm certainly not going to hit her, because if I do, I think I'll never be able to rise on my feet again after getting hit by the fireball she'll throw to me!" said Sinbad with a sarcastic tone.

Firouz sighed. He looked at Rongar, who nodded. Then, he approached Mustapha, lift his hand up and hit him in the chest.

"Ouch!" he yelled in pain. He shook his head and looked up at the scientist, "How did you dare touch me, stupid man!" he shouted after him.

"Okay, everything's normal with Mustapha!" said Sinbad, exchanging a glance with Rongar. Then, he walked to Maeve.

She was still laughing at him, "Oh dearest! How are you doing?" she said in a suave tone of voice.

The Nomad's captain thought a moment, and then decided. He took her head in his hands and kissed her on the lips passionately. She was surprised at the beginning, but then responded. They broke when they were both breathless, three pairs of eyes looking amused at them. Sinbad quickly let go of her head and took a step away from her.

She looked amazed. She opened her mouth to speak, but no word came out. She looked at Sinbad in the eye, she was now out of trance and wondering what had happened and why Sinbad had kissed her, especially with such intensity.

"Maeve..." he began, "I'm sorry, I had to do it."

She shut her eyes a moment, obviously irritated, "And why did you have to 'do it'?" she asked.

"Because I had to make you feel a strong emotion, you know, like pain, fear or pleasure." he replied, feeling uneasy, "Wow!" he thought, " What a great kiss!"

"Pleasure?" she asked, feeling suddenly uneasy too.

"Aye," answered Firouz, a smile still curving his lips, "But the discussion is closed. We'll talk about this later. We have to find where Charon is holding Doubar prisoner."

All agreed. Maeve threw a glance to Sinbad, a glance which meant, "Aye, we'll talk about this later."

"So... we reached the "Styx", and now what?" asked Sinbad, trying to change the topic of the conversation.

Everyone turned to look at Maeve. She thought for a moment and said, "Uh... I'm not sure... But why are you all staring at me? Why do you rely on me? After all, I'm not the captain!" she exclaimed, looking at Sinbad.

Every heads turned from Maeve to Sinbad. He seemed to feel uneasy, and was about to say something when they heard a squawk. They looked up at the sky to see Dermott flying to Maeve and perching on her arm.

"Did you find anything interesting, Dermott?" she asked him out loud.

The bird and the sorceress locked eyes for a moment. Then Maeve looked up at Sinbad and said: "Dermott says he has looked everywhere for where Charon could keep Doubar prisoner, and that there's nothing on this island but some vegetation."

The captain made a disappointed face.

"So? How are we going to reach Doubar? Perhaps you are wrong, perhaps he's not even around here! My brother's in danger and we don't even know where he is! I can't believe this!" he exclaimed, losing his temper.

The others looked at him in disbelief. They had never seen their captain and friend like that, without any self control.

"Sinbad..." murmured Firouz, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Don't lose hope. We'll find him, I'm sure Maeve will find out."

The sorceress rolled her eyes to the scientist. She felt helpless and she hated feeling this way. But suddenly, an idea filled her mind.

"I think there's a way!" she exclaimed.

Firouz, Mustapha and Rongar turned their heads again from Sinbad to Maeve, ready to hear anything, but not really trusting what she was going to say.

"Listen close. Dim-Dim spoke about Charon and the Styx, right?" The others nodded, "And we reached the "Styx". So Doubar can't be anywhere else. Perhaps he is here, but we can't see him because he's not in this dimension. Dim-Dim is stuck in an alternate dimension, remember? Here it's the same." She wanted to explain more but was interrupted by Sinbad.

"What are you saying? We lost Doubar to another dimension? Like Dim-Dim?" he asked quickly, his voice trembling a bit.

"No, sailor, that's not what I'm saying! But if you could let me finish, perhaps you'd be able to understand!" she replied in an irritated tone.

Sinbad lowered his eyes, "Okay. Sorry. Go on..." he pleaded.

"So..." she resumed, "What I mean is that there's a lot of others dimensions, there's not just one or two. Each one has its specialty and its ruler. Charon belongs to the underworld, which is a kind of alternate dimension. We probably are in the place where a portal to this dimension can be open. Charon has taken Doubar to the underworld. We just have to find how to open the portal and I think we'll reach Charon's place, the real Styx."

She sighed and looked at her friends to see their reaction. Mustapha raised his eyebrows and looked at Rongar, who sighed and turned to Firouz, who had an unbelieving look on his face, who turned to Sinbad. The captain looked at Firouz, and then at Maeve.

He nodded with a faint smile to her and asked, "So what are we waiting for? Let's find the portal!"

Maeve smiled back at him and took her bag. She pulled out the Book of Darkness and Light and sat on the ground.

"I'm going to search in it to see if there's an incantation to recite or something to do to open the portal. While I'm doing this, you should try to find if there's something special around, like a hole in a rock or a strange detail on the black water..."

The men nodded and began searching. Maeve put her head in her book and began glancing through the pages.

Firouz and Rongar had gone in the east, and Mustapha and Sinbad were looking around the river. Mustapha was always looking back to Maeve, a shiver filling his body. Sinbad noticed it and asked his friend, "Hey? What's happening? Do you feel all right?"

Mustapha turned to his captain, hesitating to tell him what was scaring him.

"It's just that..." he began, ".. no...nothing but...You know, I...I have to admit it scares me a bit to have to go to the underworld. Maeve brought me back to life, and now I have to return to this...this..." He couldn't finish.

Sinbad looked at his friend, " You don't have to come with us, Mustapha. I know it must have been very difficult and now that you're alive, we're asking you to return to the death land. No, you're going to wait for us here. I don't want to lose my friends to save my brother."

Mustapha raised an eyebrow to him, "Are you treating me like the sorceress? Hey, I'm a man, and Doubar is my friend. I will not be left behind!" he exclaimed, causing Sinbad to giggle.

"What? Why are you laughing at me?" said Mustapha, irritated.

"Oh... Nothing, you just remind me of someone" Sinbad answered, looking towards Maeve.

~~~

After three quarters of an hour, Maeve called her friends. The four men ran to her, a look of hope filling their faces, "I found it!" she said, overexcited, "There's a spell which has to be recited to open the portal."

"Isn't there anything else? A special place, or an exact hour?" asked Sinbad, obviously cheered with hope. He felt so happy that he wanted to jump in Maeve's arms, but he refrained himself from doing so.

The sorceress read out loud, "In the middle of the dark, I'm here. Down into the night, I'm here. I lead you to your death, I'm here."

"It probably means that you have to recite it at the middle of the river. But how can we go there? Look what happened to the giant when he touched the water, there's no way we're going to swim to reach it." Firouz remarked.

"Aye, perhaps it would be great if you could think of an invention which isn't useless for once!" said Mustapha sarcastically.

Firouz's eyes flashed with anger, "Perhaps my glue didn't help us a few days ago? And you, couldn't you think of something? Or can you just make fun of the ones who DO something?" the scientist responded, very angry at Mustapha's comment.

"Stop it you two!" yelled Sinbad, "Think of Doubar! You can argue with each other later, the time is ticking. Maeve?"

"Yeah, I'm ready. I'll go to the middle of the river, at least the middle of the shore and we'll see if it works or not."

Firouz and Mustapha threw each other some imaginary daggers with their eyes and walked to Sinbad, Maeve, and Rongar. The moor stared at each of his friends, imploring the two to stop fighting with each other. Maeve walked to the shore and glared at the water. She looked to the right, then to the left and decided she was at the middle of the shore.

She thought for a moment and then recited, "Light of life, let us open the portal, let us come to death, and meet your powerful ruler. We are here for saving a life from the dark of the night, let us make a hole in your black veil and bring the light to the death."

She repeated it twice and suddenly a bolt torn the black sky. It dove in the river with a flash of light, causing Maeve and the men to shiver their eyes. A loud sound emanated from the hole and they were aspirated into the black water.

~~~

"Hey?" A gentle moan could be heard in the darkness of whatever the place was.

"Sinbad? Rongar? Maeve?" Firouz's voice came from the darkness.

"Is everyone in one piece?" asked a faint voice which was supposed to be the Nomad's Captain's.

"Uuh...I think so," came another, female one.

"Mustapha?" asked Sinbad.

"Yeah, I'm right there," the man answered, "Rongar? Are you all right" he then asked, searching for his mute friend.

A tap on his shoulder answered him and he turned to face the moor, who seemed fine.

"Okay... So everyone's fine? Then let's go!" Sinbad said with a determined voice.

It was almost completely dark, but the young captain noticed that his crew members rolled their eyes. Then, with a slow voice, Mustapha asked, "Let's go...where? Did you see that we can NOT see?"

His voice was teasing, and Sinbad sighed loudly understanding his friend was right. Firouz couldn't get how Mustapha dared to speak to Sinbad, after all he had just come back, and he was already teasing his captain as Doubar was in danger.

He responded in an irritated voice, "Mustapha, did you ever learn something called tact? Or is it something your mother forgot to teach you?"

Mustapha immediately got very angry and shouted back, "How dare you, stupid little inventor, say something about my mother!"

"Oh, but isn't it what you always ask people to do?" Firouz couldn't help himself, even if he knew that it wasn't a good time to mess up.

Mustapha moved to the scientist, ready to kick him, when suddenly his hand froze. He tried to get it down, but he couldn't move it, as if it was stuck in the air.

"What... what's the hell happening?" he said trying to free his hand from the invisible grip.

They turned to Maeve, wondering if it was her who was keeping Mustapha's hand under control, but she seemed as surprised as the others. From the looks on their faces, which she didn't like, she immediately understood what they were thinking.

"Hey!" she exclaimed,"Whenever something strange happens, why do you always assume that it was because of me?"

"You're right, red, darling. That's what I hate the most about humans. They've got such a pitiful mind and are never good at finding out what's happening," came a loud, dark and scary voice.

They all turned and gulped. In front of them was standing a man, or at least sort of a man, with long and skeletal fingers, if they could call these sort of white bones fingers, cracking as he put his hands towards them. He wore a big, long dark gown, reaching his feet, with a dark cap covering almost all of his face, which was probably better, Maeve thought, because his face was certainly the most ugly thing they would have ever seen.

Mustapha's hand was instantly freed from her stake, and he jumped back with the others, grabbing Firouz by the arm. All were speechless, mouth and eyes wide opened. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared, and the place lit up. They looked at their surroundings to see they were on a very strange land, which looked like the island they were in a minute ago.

The only difference was that the river in front of them was much bigger than the other, and that they could hear some scarring screams coming from nowhere. The sky was black, but not like a black sky in the night, which is more than black. This sky seemed "made" in black, like it was born from the darkness, from the Death itself.

There were still those black trees, and this impression of fear, of disgusting, of death. They all got a chill as they looked towards the river, trying to make out the other shore, but there was none. At least none which could be seen. The river was so large that they couldn't see where it began and where it ended.

"Like an ocean, an ocean of darkness," thought Sinbad, who was feeling a sort of pain inside his chest, a pain from the fear he was feeling, fear for his brother, his crew, and for himself.

As everyone was trying to recover their senses, the dark man spoke again, "So, Sinbad, master of the seven seas, what are you doing here? Want to make a little party with your friends for your brother's death?"

Sinbad thought he was going to throw his saber to the man in anger. His eyes turned to red but he tried to control himself from shouting. He asked, his voice filled with anger, "Where is my brother and what have you done to him?"

"Well, well... Shouldn't we make the introductions before beginning to speak? So I introduce myself. My name is Charon, and I am the dead men passager. Perhaps the red one knows some things about me?"

They turned to Maeve who seemed almost scared, and Sinbad was amazed, never had he seen such an expression of fear filling her face. Maeve slowly spoke up, her voice filled with disgust: "You shouldn't make yourself up as such an important person, Charon. You're only a passager. You're not the one who decides who lives and who dies. So why did you take Doubar?"

"But my dear you're not as educated as I thought! I see the old man didn't have the time to teach you everything! Perhaps Greeks always believed I was no more than a passager, but they weren't right. You see, the centuries have passed, and now nothing works the same way anymore. Pff... Aiquos, Minos and Rhadamantys perhaps thought they were good judges. But they were not. Always saying one man had been good in his life, one woman had been having a difficult life... always finding excuses like 'to err is human' or some stupidities like that. Fortunately, now they can't disturb me anymore..."

The Nomad crew looked at him from head to toe. They hadn't understood at all what he had talked about and what he had done. They were very confused, wondering what to do and where Doubar could be.

Suddenly, Firouz understood and spoke up, "That's right!" Everyone, Charon included, turned to face him and listen what he was about to say, "Look. In Greek mythology, when you die, there are some different stages before going to the Elysian Fields, the Paradise, or to the Tarturas, the hell. First, Hermes, son of Zeus, messenger and spokesman of the Gods, leads the souls to the Underworld. There, they cross the River Styx with Charon and must pay the crossing. Next, they are tried by the three judges, Rhadamantys, Aiquos, sons of Zeus, and Minos, ex-king of Crete. They decide who goes to Tarturas, and who to the Elysian Fields. And the whole Underworld is ruled by Hades, the hell god, Emperor of the Darkness."

As Sinbad, Rongar and Mustapha was trying to get the information, Maeve seemed to remember. Suddenly, a sound of clapping, of strange clapping, was heard. Charon was putting his skeletal hands together, and unconsciously, Mustapha wondered if his fingers were about to fall off.

"Very good, dear scientist! But do you know things have changed? Hades has always been the Evil itself. That's why he approved me when I got rid of those three stupid "ex-heroes" Now, I am the one who decides who goes to Tarturas. Believe me or not, but there's much more people in now..." With that he burst into an evil laugh.

Sinbad took his courage and asked, "What does Doubar have to do with that?"

Charon stopped laughing. He looked at the sailor, and Sinbad got a chill when he saw the red and horrifying eyes of the devil creature. He slowly said, "Don't you already know, Sinbad?"

The captain looked at his friends, searching for support, confused. He thought for a while and answered, "All I know is that you got the wrong person. Doubar didn't die, at least not in normal conditions. If he is there, it's only because you took him there!"

Charon grinned, if of course we could call this a grin, and said, word after word, "Do you remember the day you and your brother avoided to die? No, of course you can't remember, you were too young!" He paused. Sinbad began to understand and felt uncomfortable, "This day, your parents faded away. Phew...never came back."

Sinbad had had enough. He wanted to jump and kill the creature, but he was grabbed by Rongar and Maeve.

Charon's smile deepened, and he continued, "Then you and your brother fell overboard, and Doubar could have saved himself quickly, but he tried to take you with him... Damn! When your parents arrived there, I was fighting against the judges, and they succeeded in their attempt to bring your parents to the Elysian Fields. But I did not wanted to lose everything. So I tried to get your brother's soul, and Scratch, my dear friend, helped me to convince him to let you go. But we met a resistance, that stupid sorcerer! Doubar saved you and himself even so, and I lost."

He paused again. Everyone was looking at him, wanting him to continue and let them know why he took Doubar. Sinbad sighed loudly, thinking about what the world would be like if Scratch, Charon and Hades ruled it.

The demon resumed, " I hate losing when I play, sailor. So this is why I waited for the old man to let his protection spell fading. And now that he is far, far away... I took what belonged to me. That's all. So now, you've got two choices. This is a nice day, take advantage. I can let you go back to the isle, forgetting everything about this, and regain a normal life aboard the little boat, or you can try to get your friend back, die and go to hell with him. What do you prefer?"

They all turned to look at their captain. A light of rage was filling his eyes. He just said, "My ship is not a little boat, and as long as I live, my brother's soul will never belong to you."

Sinbad had said this statement with such will that everyone agreed immediately, they turned to Charon, and Maeve said, determination filling her words, "Now it's you, demon, who have two choices. You let us get Doubar back without any blood, or we take him back by force and you will be nothing more than the poor people you sent to hell."

Charon looked at her in disbelief, and then burst into laughter, "Hahaha!! And you really think you can harm me, wench?"

Maeve felt anger filling her hands and a fireball formed in one of them. Then she threw it at him with all the strength she had. But as it was going to hit Charon in the face, it stopped in the air, began to shrink and disappeared. In front of Maeve's disappointed face, he just said, his dark voice filling with amusement: "Boo!! Oh my God! You really scared me!!" Then, taking a begging tone he said, " Please!!! Don't do it again!"

Maeve, as Sinbad, was beginning to lose her patience and temper. She took her sword and said, "OK, so magic can't harm you, but you won't probably like a sword piercing your body, will you?"

Saying that, she began running towards Charon and fighting with him. But there was a sort of wall all around him, and an invisible sword was fighting against her in the air. Sinbad rushed at her side, following by Rongar, to help her, but a "sword" appeared for each of them and fought against them.

After a few minutes of battle, Charon rose his hands and said "STOP!" The swords disappeared, even if they had never seen them, and Rongar, Sinbad and Maeve took a moment to regain their breath.

Charon looked irritate at last and said, "That's enough for me. I'm tired, I'm going to kill you quickly." He extended his hands, a flash of red light emanated from them and hit Firouz in the chest. He cried in pain and fell on the ground.

"Firouz!!" they all screamed and rushed at the scientist's side.

"No, I'm not finished with you, don't worry you'll join him soon." Charon said and rose his hands to Maeve. She was about to be hit also by the red flash, but Sinbad put himself in front of her to protect her.

Maeve realized what he was doing and cried, "NO!"

But it was too late, the young captain was going to be killed instead of her. Suddenly, the light stopped, and a sort of strength hovered in the sky, as if it was fighting against Charon's magic. Sinbad opened his eyes and turned to see Maeve extending her hands, resisting against the demon's attack.

A blue light was forming in her hands, she threw it to Firouz who woke up, and then she turned to Charon and said, "You're right, Charon, it's not finished, now I'm playing with you too."

The demon cried in anger and began pushing more strength in his flash. Maeve was beginning to lose her energy, and she knew she had to find something if she wanted to resist. Then suddenly, Charon stopped his attack. Maeve's magic almost hit him, but was stopped by a wall around the dead men's passager. Seeing this, Maeve stopped, exhausted. She almost fell in Sinbad's arms, but finally just leaned on to his shoulder.

Charon started laughing and exclaimed, "You're better than I thought, sorceress. And that is why I'm going to give you a chance. Perhaps I'll have more fun this way!" With that he burst again into laughter.

Sinbad looked at his crew, and saw that they didn't seem to understand more than him why the demon was acting like that. But his thought was interrupted by Charon's voice.

"Here's the deal. Sinbad, you can choose two crew members. Then the game begins..." He clasped his hands and the place lit up more," As you can guess, when someone reaches the other shore, he can not return." he said, pointing to the River Styx, "Your brother is exactly between the two shores, when everything in your mind begins to tangle up and when you just want to get rid of everything, you don't even want to return to life. I'll carry you there, on a small raft. There you'll see your brother. If you succeed to bring him back, you will be able to return to your world, with him".

Sinbad seemed amazed, "So... We just have to take the raft and bring him there? You will do nothing? You will let us go?"

"Yes, of course." The demon answered, "But it's not going to be so easy. You will have to convince him to go back to your world, the world of humans, of pain, of fear. Here, everything's perfect: no half-measure. You either suffer or are happy. Not this confused thing that life is, never totally happy, never totally sad... Death is the only right way to be. And I'm sure Doubar now knows that." Charon paused. He looked at Sinbad who seemed determined, "So, captain, who do you choose to come with you?"

Sinbad hesitated for a moment and then answered, " We always do everything together, why can't we all go there?"

Charon grinned, "Because, my dear Sinbad, of the raft. I don't think you'll be able to stand on it if you are five, plus Doubar if you succeed, that is not sure at all. And you probably guess that if you don't succeed, you will never see the light again, so perhaps it's better if you are not all involved."

Sinbad looked at his crew and said, "I can not do this choice. I won't let you risk your lives, I will go alone." But then, four pairs of eyes, plus a pair of Hawk's eyes, stared at him as if he had lost his mind. Maeve spoke up, "I WILL come and rescue Doubar with you."

Sinbad sighed and nodded, he knew it was no use to argue with her about this. Then Firouz said, "And I will too, Doubar has been my friend for so long, I don't want to lose him."

Mustapha and Rongar made a face and said, the first in words and the second in signs, "We want to save him too!" Sinbad came to them and said, "Listen, I know you love Doubar as much as us, but you have to stay here." And he added, whispering, "I need you here to watch this demon, and make sure he doesn't try anything." The men nodded. Sinbad turned to face Charon, Maeve, and Firouz, "Okay, so let's go!"

Charon clasped his hands and Sinbad, Maeve and Firouz felt as if they were flying. Everything grew dark, and suddenly, they felt ground under their feet. The three friends opened their eyes and saw they were...nowhere.

Everything seemed black, they could only make out the soft sound of water, of waves. They could feel the raft rocking and knew they were sailing, but where were they going? Sinbad stepped forward and stopped when he felt nothing under his foot. He moved back and looked at Maeve and Firouz.

"Phew... Uuh, I think we should better stay in the middle of the...the raft," he said.

The others nodded.

"So where is Doubar now?" asked Maeve, " Charon said he would send us to him."

Sinbad shook his head and said, " I hope it wasn't a trap."

"Look!" Firouz exclaimed suddenly.

They looked in the direction the scientist had pointed and saw something sailing towards them. In despite of the darkness, they could see that the form on the raft was Doubar!

"Doubar!!" they all yelled.

The raft approached more and Doubar slowly turned his head toward the noise of the three voices. Sinbad, Firouz and Maeve gasped at what they saw. On their friend's face was an expression of emptiness, as if he didn't remember anything. His eyes weren't shining as usual with this light of joy, and they couldn't see any life in them. His skin was pale, and he had bags under his eyes, which were half red, half white. His entire body seemed lifeless, as if he was standing by an unknown force, which didn't come from him.

"Doubar!" Sinbad repeated softly, "What has he done to you? Hey! don't you remember us? We came here for you, to rescue you!"

Doubar turned his head to his brother and said, "I don't know what you want from me, man, but I am dead, I am happy here, and my name is not Doubar, I don't have any name."

Maeve looked at her friend, with horror. It was really horrible to see this, what that dark world had done to him. He didn't even recognize his brother, his dear brother for who he would have given his life before.

"Doubar... That is your name, and you have to remember. You don't belong to this world of darkness, of death. You have to go back up there with us, in the world of light, in the world of life." she said with determination.

The big man made a face and seemed to get something in her speech. Then his eyes flashed with anger, "World of light? Pff! What a kind of world! No parents, lots of friends lost, no love... And even when I fall in love, it is with a demon who wants to kill me... No one loves me up there, I don't want to return. Master Hades loves us. He makes us feel the real world, the only truth, the death!" His voice was filled with a sort of hatred and Sinbad almost brought back a sob when he heard that cruel words from his own brother.

Then Firouz spoke up, "You have to remember, Doubar. We are your friends. We do love you, and everyone on board do too. You are one of my first friends, one of the first who has believed in my science and trusted me. I owe you my life several times, like a lot of us. And we need you, my friend, we need you," His voice was trembling when he finished his sentence.

A flash of light filled Doubar's eyes and Sinbad regained faith. He spoke up at his turn.

"Doubar," He cleared his throat before continuing, to chase the tears in his voice, "You are my best friend. But so much more. You are my brother, all I have left on this earth. I couldn't sail, or even try to battle the evil if you weren't by my side, watching my back like a strong shadow. I know I can depend on you, I know I can trust you at each moment of my life. You've always been there, from the very beginning until now, and I know you will forever. And I need you, I need you so much! Please don't let this darkness take you, it isn't fair. You didn't die, it was Charon who brought you here, you didn't want to and no one of us would ever be the same without you. Please my friend, my brother, come back to me, take my hand."

With this he extended his hand to his brother. A real mess seemed to battle inside Doubar's soul. His eyes were reflecting everything, pain, joy, everything that had taken place in his whole life. Then some tears came in the big man's eyes, and he took Sinbad's strong arm in his hand.

"Little brother..." he whispered.

"Doubar!" exclaimed joyfully the sorceress, relieved that her friend had come to realize life was the most important thing.

"Doubar!" both Sinbad and Firouz said. Doubar passed above the water, closing the distance between the two rafts, and took his little brother in his arms. Sinbad couldn't take it anymore, so he let the tears come. He wiped them on his big brother's shoulder. He was so relieved.

"Hey, let a little of him for us!" Maeve said before jumping in the two brothers' embrace. After a moment, they looked up at Firouz, who pretended to make a face, but smiled and came in the embrace of the three.

~~~

Near the portal, Mustapha and Rongar were beginning to grow impatient. Charon came up to them and said with his evilly voice, "Oh, no need to worry, in fact you'll never see them again, you should have said good-bye before!" He laughed.

"What?" asked a very angry Mustapha, "What are you saying, stupid one?"

"First of all, I am not stupid, you are, human. And yes, you'll never see them again, it's impossible to convince the dead men to come back to life," answered the demon with a grin.

Mustapha and Rongar felt anger filling them and Mustapha approached Charon.

"Say something about my mother." he said in an impassive voice.

Charon laughed at this and answered, "Oh!!! She was probably very ugly to give birth to a son like you!"

Mustapha screamed in anger and jumped towards the demon, preparing to strike, when... CRASH! A loud noise was heard behind them. A cloud of smoke appeared and Sinbad, Maeve, Firouz and Doubar emerged out off it.

"Hey!! You're all there!" yelled Mustapha. If Rongar could speak, he would have yelled too, he was so happy and relieved to see them there, especially after what Charon had said.

"No, it couldn't be..." Charon whispered, obviously not understanding how they made it.

"So everything's finished, Charon. Now keep your word, and let us go back to the isle." said Sinbad.

Rapidly, the demon regained his senses. He laughed softly.

"There's something you should know, dear captain." Sinbad made a face, waiting for him to continue, "Never trust a demon." With that, he began forming a sort of red fireball in his hand and was about to throw it to Maeve when his hand was stopped and he fell on the ground with a cry of pain.

Everyone turned to her wondering what she had done, when she said, a voice filling with both irritating and amusement, ","Whenever something strange happens, why do you always assume that it was because of me? Oops, there's a sense of déjà-vu, isn't there?"

"How?" asked Charon, still lying on the ground, obviously hurt.

"It's time to realize you're nothing but a passenger, Charon." A voice came from nowhere.

They all turned to see three men, dressed with magnificent fabrics.

"Rhadamantys, Aiquos and Minos..." Firouz said, enthralled.

~~~

The three men turned to Sinbad, Firouz and Maeve and kneeled beside them.

"We owe you, captain. You are the first who succeeded to bring someone back after Charon took him. That is what freed us, you broke the spell he had put on us with Scratch's help," Rhadamantys said. He rose on his feet, turning to Charon, "And now... you're going to be tried, Charon, and I don't think you'll join the Elysian Fields!"

"NO!!!" the demon cried. He was wrapped by a cloud of smoke and disappeared.

Minos turned to the crew.

"Thank you for everything. Now, we have work ahead of us. We're going to bring back all the persons Charon has sent to Tartarus to judge them again. We're going to open the portal, you'll be brought back to the isle."

The crew nodded and smiled, "Wow!" they all thought, "I'm going to change my mind about the underworld! These judges seem to be very good people!"

Aiquos rose his hand and the portal appeared in front of them, "So...Goodbye. I hope we'll see you again... Uuh... But not too soon!" Zeus' son said.

The crew entered the portal and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Come on, guys, we've got a lot of things to do!" said Rhadamantys to his companions.

~~~

On the Nomad, Sinbad was standing at the tiller, as usual. Doubar approached his brother.

"So little brother...Uh... How could I say that... Thank you."

"You're welcome, Doubar."

"You know...all that stupid things I said once on the Styx... I didn't mean it, I hope you know that."

"Aye, Doubar, I know, but you don't have to apologize, you were...um...dead," Sinbad stopped, he didn't know what to say, he was afraid to hurt his brother with stupid words. But the big man only laughed and Sinbad joined him, "It's good to have you back, big brother."

"And it's good to be back, Sinbad," He tapped his shoulder, "Tell me, what do you think of Rhadamantys, Aiquos, and Minos? They're not that bad for dead men's judges, don't you think?"

"Aye, you're right. You know, it reassures me somehow. I now know that good people are happy after death, and probably Mother and Father are happy for the eternity," Sinbad said, a certain emotion filling his voice.

"Yeah..." replied Doubar, thinking. He tapped his brother's shoulder again, and left him to his thoughts, his stomach requiring him to go to the galley.

Sinbad watched the sunset, thinking. He didn't hear the beautiful sorceress approaching him.

"So... Captain..." she said loudly, to make him turn to face her, " I think there's something we had to talk about..."

Sinbad felt suddenly uneasy, "Maeve, you know, it was necessary...Um, I mean, I had to do it, and..."

"I know," She cut him off, "Oh, come on, I was just teasing you!" she joyfully said, pushing his arm friendly. He took her hand to her surprise and brought her face closer to his, "And I think you weren't reluctant at all, considering you had to feel a strong emotion to wake up." he said, his voice teasing. Maeve blushed and got out of his grasp.

"Um... I... I have to admit... you're not a bad kisser," she said, before blushing even more, realizing what she had just said. But it was also Sinbad's turn to blush.

"And I have to admit you're not a bad one either." he said, looking down at his great new boots.

"Why, thank you", she said before turning and heading towards her cabin downstairs, as fast as she could, trying not to be noticed. But it was too late, because she heard the laughs of Doubar, Mustapha, and Firouz before shutting the door behind her, her face almost as red as her fiery hair.

* * *

_Fin_


End file.
